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5.18.2011

How to make a quilt... kind of.

UPDATE: To see a video tutorial showing the free motion quilting process and check out my lisp click here!

Remember this post? Well, I finished before Christmas! My first quilt ever! This is what I did... feel free to make fun of me.

Here's the short backstory: My sister was pregnant with baby #3 and to everyone's surprise, it was a boy... her 3rd boy! Sooo, since a whole lot of what little baby Levi would be getting would be a hand-me-down from his 2 older brothers, I decided to make something new just for him. The perfect time to tackle quilting.

I've never quilted before and really had no idea what I was doing, so I started where I usually start in that situation; Google. And, I found this. Love! Ready? Here we go.

Determine what size you would like your quilt, this will determine how many fat quarters you'll need. My quilt was small. 32" x 40". I ended up using 6 fat quarters, cut into strips, for the front (pre-washed and dried) and one big solid piece I had cut at JoAnn's for the back. My advice, buy more than you need, then return the unused ones... or throw them in your fabric stash for another project. One of those Jelly Rolls would work really well for this too, but I couldn't find one with the colors I wanted.

Here are my fat quarters, all cut into strips. Strips were anywhere from 1.5" to 3" wide. All randomly cut.

Lots and lots of strips!

Next, you are going to cut paper squares to use as "templates" for your quilt squares. I used notebook paper which is only 8" wide. So my squares were 8" but you could make them whatever size you want. You can use any thin paper you want too... copy paper works good. My quilt is 4 squares wide x 5 squares tall. I think this is a great method for first time quilters!

Then I used an Elmer's glue stick to lightly stick my center strip, right side up, to each paper square, diagonally, corner to corner. (I used all beige for my center strips so you would really see the diamond pattern when it was done... completely optional) Like this...

Tighten up the stitch length on your machine at this point. It's not critical, but it is easier to rip the paper off the backs of these if the stitches are closer together. Not crazy small, just a few notches smaller than normal.

Now, take your next strip, place it on top of your center glued down strip, right sides together aligning one raw edge. Sew along that edge with a 1/4" seam allowance. Don't worry about back stitching at either end... it's all going to get cut off anyway. Just sew off both ends, past the edge of the paper slightly. Sew right through the paper.

Then press your seam open with a dry iron. (If you use steam, you paper will curl... very annoying!)

Add your next strip to the one you just sewed on, right sides together. Continue this until you cover the entire square. The back will look like this.

Flip your square over, paper side up, and trim all 4 sides. Now you have a perfect square of fabric. Save your trimmed fabric strips and keep using them! The small ones are perfect for the corners. See the paper sewed to the fabric?

After all of your squares are made (it took me a few months... don't judge) you can rip the paper off the back. Hold the seam edges as you rip each section since they will unravel.

Once you have all of your paper ripped off, lay out all of your squares and move them around until you find an order you like. Here's 4 squares layed out... keep going.

Now sew each row together, square by square, right sides together. Press each seam. You will have several long strips when this step is done.

Now that all of your rows are sewed together, sew all of the rows to each other, right sides together. I used a 1/4" seam allowance on everything.

Here's what the back will look like when everything is sewed together.

And the front...

As you can see, my squares didn't line up perfectly. : ) I'd also like to point out the different beige fabrics here. That's because I ran out of my beige fat quarter and had to cut some strips from another beige fabric I had in my stash. Still looks good to me.

Now you need to make your sandwich: top layer (that you just finished), batting, and back fabric. Your top layer and back fabric face right sides out... batting is the "meat" in this sandwich. Make sure all of your pieces are as big as, or bigger than your quilt top.

Baste your sandwich (sounds like we're cooking). When you make this sandwich, you have to stick it all together (baste) before you start quilting it, otherwise everything will shift all over the place when you start sewing. I used FUSI-BOO batting which has a glue built right in, activated by the steam of your iron. It worked great and washes right out. You could also use a million pins (yuck), use spray glue made for quilting, or do a basting stitch (also yuck) to keep it all together.

Fluffy and soft. (my bias tape is in that top photo too)

Once your fabric sandwich is glued together, trim everything up so you have an even rectangle again.

Time to quilt! Again, I had no idea what I was doing.... Google! I found out that the swirly look was called "meandering" or "free-motion quilting". Luckily, my machine came with a free-motion quilting foot and directions. I attached the foot to my machine and put the feed dogs down (the little metal gripper things on your machine that pull the fabric from front to back). You don't want your machine to pull the fabric anywhere... you'll be doing the pulling.

Start sewing from a corner, work your way across your quilt in a zigzag motion, heading towards the opposite corner. Just make your sewing lines wavy and swirly, not straight.

It's a little weird to get used to sewing sideways, backwards, diagonal, etc. If you're unsure, practice on a scrap first to get the hang of it. Also, a helpful tip: put on some rubber gloves! I know, weird. But, it's so much easier for your hands to grip your quilt and move it smoothly with them on. I used my good ole rubber kitchen gloves :)

At this point, my quilt started to look like this (below) and I did several happy dances in the dining room. "OMG, It's working!!!!" You can see where some of my stitches are short, and some are long... but no one is going to see that when it's all done. Keep going!

Here's how I tackled having a lot of fabric up under my machine... I rolled. You will probably use up a couple bobbins at least during this too. Just start sewing again with a new bobbin right where you ran out the last time... just back stitch over the ending spot a little.

Once all of your swirlies are done, add a bias tape all the way around. I followed this tutorial on how to do that. It was a little tricky, but not terrible.

Last step! Wash and dry your quilt to get all the basting glue out and to make it nice and crinkley! (oh, and take a million photos because you are going to be extremely proud of yourself)

Thanks for the compliment! I was just thinking I haven't posted a good sewing tutorial in a while... time to get on that. I try to write how I think. Hopefully it comes out making sense... most of the time!

Great quilt! That's very brave of you to do free-motion stitching for your first quilting. I just finished my first quilt (over at http://wildbearbuckles.blogspot.com) and I can really relate - I totally caught the bug, too!

That looks great! I found your blog on Sew Much Ado's We did it Wednesday. My sister in law had her 3rd baby boy in November and they named him Levi and I'm making a quilt for him as well. Crazy thing it's almost the same colors as yours! I seriously did a double take when I saw this! I love the free motion quilting look but I haven't ever tried it. GREAT JOB!

This is gorgeous! Congrats :) I myself have just recently taken up quilting. You can see in my "sold" items on my etsy shop lebebenest.etsy.com that mine were VERY simple- block squares and a simple, straight diagnoal stitch. I am working on a more complicated quilt currently. I've cut all my pieces and am trying to gain the courage to start sewing! I love your paper tutorial- great idea! I'm also glad to see you're using the same Brother sewing matching that I have... I had been wondering if I would be able to do the swirly detail sitches. It's a gorgeous first piece. Thanks for sharing!

I bought a free motion foot this past year, too, and boy am I intimidated and still feel (after three baby quilts - for three new nephews) that I suck at it, while secretly LOVING how they look when they're done. It is so different and exciting, though, isn't it?

Found you through UCreate but have seen your blog before. Your quilt is beautiful. And I love the tutorial. I love that everything is not "perfect". I have been intimated to try a quilt because of all the other tutes that say you have to do it a certain way. Not expressing myself exactly but you get my drift...Do you like your Brother machine? I'm looking into getting a new one. Thanks.

Marilyn - I LOVE my Brother machine. It was mid range in price (shipped for free to my house from Walmart.com) and I've never had a problem with it. I was a WAY beginner when I started on this machine and just read the directions to get up and going. It was easy to understand. I really recommend it.

Yes, free-motion quilting is my favorite! It makes the quilts look more modern in my opinion. And it's really not hard. I "messed up" quite a bit and the over all look at the end is still great. : )

I love your story. I totally get the Mommy-of-two and I love that you write what we are all thinking-- I clean poop, snot, food and heavens knows what else all while trying to save a little here and there. I love that you turn smelly junk into cool stuff! You definately make me laugh and I need that in the middle of nap time before someone beckons me. My twins are 4 and I have one on the way. Thanks for keeping me entertained!

Thank you SO much for linking this up at Homemaker in Heels! You make such an intimidating project look SO easy! I will definitely be referring back to this. I want to make one now!:) I will be featuring this tonight, so feel free to stop by and grab a button! :) I am also following now, btw..CrystaHomemakerinHeels.com

This is amazing! I have made a few basic quilts, as well as this 'cheat' quilt: http://neenaballerina.blogspot.com/2011/05/blanket-for-baby.html I love the look of this and I'm going to have to give it a go :) Did not know that there was a 'free motion' foot for machines, have never seen one. I did a free motion quilt stitch on my daughter's king single quilt and was disappointed at how difficult it was to finish... silly me!!! I think I'll be hitting up some online shops to find one of those tonight! Thanks for a great tutorial :) Sam (in Australia)

Your quilt is SO beautiful!! My mom made one similar to this one with scraps from all of the different sewing projects that she'd done for me through my childhood. It's not the most spectacularly pretty quilt but it has lots and lots of memories - plus she found that this pattern is SO easy to work with!

I found your blog through Ucreate (I think). I'm a quilter too & have only been doing it for about a year. I absolutely LOVE free motion quilting!!! It's my favorite part now & it just totally makes the quilt...it gives it character and it looks so much better than just quilting it with straight lines. You should check out my blog, especially this post here: http://adayinthelifeofamomandawife.blogspot.com/2011/02/lets-get-to-crafty-stuff.html where I figured out how to write names on the quilts while free motion quilting. It takes a bit of practice & some letters are harder than others, but it's a super cute way to personalize a quilt! Give it a try!

Great tutorial. I like that you pointed out the "not perfect" areas. It makes me better, because I would love to quilt, but have been so scared of the process. Once you cut it it's cut! Yikes. Your post has inspired me to go ahead and try it. Thank you.

Pinned this quilt off of Pinterest a while back, and I was looking at baby quilts to make for a friend and came here to see how you made it. Fell in love with your blog and different projects! I am totally a cut and sew as you go girl, glad to see I'm not the only one :) Keep all the thrifty tips and projects coming :)

This is absolutely gorgeous! I have made two quilt tops but have not actual tackled the whole quilting and finishing it part. I now see how great your first one turned out and I am no longer nervous about it : )

Thanks! Do it! Lots of work, but very rewarding. I just read some blogs and watched some YouTube and did it. And, if you mess it up a little, it will look that much more handmade. I call it character. haha

Thanks! Keep working at it... my is not perfect by any means but I made it, and that's what matters. Still quilting away a few minutes here and there. Hope to get another one done soon. I'm sure your quilt is beautiful! :)

it might b a little complicated for me..after all im only 11, but when i check back here in a couple years it will be a piece of cake! but gr8 job i am super jealous of the baby boy who is getting the blanket

Wow! You are great Sarah! This is amazing wonderful projects that will become our gifts to extended family this year. Thank you so much for all of the great tutorials and inspriration. ^_^Gerrard@Rumah Dijual

i want to learn how to quilt and have looked at so many websites and blogs and books, and i thought that the conciseness and photos and tips in this article were the best. it was short and sweet and made everything seem very doable.

This is the first time I tried this tut, thanks to you and I shared it today on my blog, along with a link to your awesome tutorial! Thank you so very much! http://domesticdeficitdisorder.blogspot.com/2012/08/paper-pieced-quilt.html

Thank you for take the time and posting it gives me courage to try fre motion quilting. I have been making quilts but only quilting in "the ditch" or diagonals but I love your free motion efforts the quilt looks great you should be so proud and its not hard to get hooked or addicted to such a rewarding past time. As I am sure many will agree. Whats more its amazing that this is your first effort. I look forward to seeing more in the future Cheers

I have wanted to try this FOREVER, but never could find any directions that a novice like me could comprehend, lol....this tutorial is AMAZING- just my level of skill and I have a niece with a baby on the way and I can't wait to do this! THANK YOU so much for sharing your great ideas and making it possible for someone like me to hope to actually be able to do this:)

Awesome! I'm so glad you are going to try it. I've had a bunch of people complete a quilt using the tutorial and email me pictures. Then a few people tell me this is too advanced for a beginner. I keep saying, "I'm a beginner and I did it!" but I don't think they believe me! haha I'm glad the instructions make sense! Good luck, you can do it. :)

Awesome for a beginner! I'm getting ready to start my "first" quilt. Come and watch my progress and let me know what you think! I need to get myself one of those free motion presser feet for my machine. If they even make them. My machine is almost 30 years old and still going strong! ROFL fauxfae.blogspot.com

I have to admit I have seen many blogs and tuts on quilting but the sheer joy of yours actually has me motivated to try and make a quilt for myself. I loved the paper piecing you did! Such a confidence booster when you are not very sure of your self. You did an excellent job! Thanks so much for sharing.

Love your tutorial Sarah. Congratulations, great job.My children are between 27 & 40 yrs old now but I used to make the most of the time they were asleep as little ones and get in as much sewing time as I could. These days I quilt and embroider and find sewing to be great at relieving stress.

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I too am "shaky" and I loved that you pointed out your quilts lovely imperfections! Just in time, as I felt I had blown my first real quilt project because the points aren't lining up perfectly. Then I saw how beautiful your quilt is! Thank you for the encouragement and for teaching me that there is such awesome beauty in a quilt made with love - true love - with flaws and all.

One or my favorite comments ever! Thanks!!! I have 2 unfinished quilts that were my great-grandma's that I plan of finishing soon. They are all hand stitched and far from perfect. But I love them because of that! I hope my nephews and kids think the same thing one day when they see my wonky stitches and un-matched up lines. :) Made imperfectly with love.

Thanks for the tutorial. I'm working on my first Quilt/Comforter for my grandson. I'm still unsure about how the binding attaches to finish it off. Will study the tutorial more. Where can I see your other quilts? Linda.

Hi Linda! Well... I've only ever made 2 quilts and helped a friend of mine make a t-shirt quilt. Here they are...http://www.whiletheysnooze.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-second-quilt.htmlhttp://whiletheysnooze.blogspot.com/2011/09/fall-t-shirt-quilt-tutorial.html

I love red pepper quilts. I've used many of her tutorials to figure out the bindings. Maybe I'll get up the guts to do my own tutorial on that one day :)

I had no idea you could do the decorative sewing on quilts on a regular machine (I have the same Brother)! I always thought that you had to have one of those huge embroidery machines or something. So you just fit the free form foot on and sew loops in a diagonal direction? I'll probably have to look into that more...I'm in the middle of my first quilt & I'm about to start a t-shirt quilt.

Hey Amy! Yes, you can! And yes. Just put the foot on, put the feed dogs down (the little metal grippy foot things), and sew all wavy and swirly until you get across your quilt. It really wasn't that hard. :)

thank you so much!for this tutorial!! i have been wanting to do machine quilting for years, but was totally put off because of not knowing how to make the thing fit in the sewing machine!! your roll it up tecnique is the bomb!! (as the kids today say) ....... :)

Wow, I've never seen anything like this, but it sure did work for you. I wish I had that creative "just try it!" Right now I'm trying to figure out reverse applique... maybe I should just put the book away.

Thanks Michele! When I made this quilt, I actually didn't know that getting everything to match up was a "thing" in quilting. Shows you how experienced I was. Now that I look at more and more quilts by people who have been doing it for years... I see their perfection. It's amazing! I don't know that I'll ever get to that point. I'm just happy it turns out to be a blanket when I'm done. hahaha Thanks!!!

Hi! Can you help me out? I am a little confused at the picture which says to start at a corner and just make our way across in a zig zag motion and then a couple pictures down, it shows 'long-short'--which kind of looks swirly to me?

Of course! Okay, so the zig zag picture shows you the basic direction you're going. From one corner all the way to the apposite corner. But, instead of going in straight lines zig zag across your quilt, you make them swirly and wiggly. Does that make sense? I should do a video on this. In fact, I will. Thanks for the kick in the pants. I know what I'm doing this weekend. haha!

That makes sense. I am in the process of doing it all now! I had never sewn in my life so when I asked this question, I also did not know what I was even talking about ha ha ha. Thank goodness for the internet or I would have never learned how to pick up this FUN hobby!! This tutorial was great---very helpful and easy to follow :)

Hi there! Can you help me out? I am confused at the picture which shows the reader to sew from a corner and go zig-zag all the way to the opposite corner of the quilt, but then a couple pictures down, the sewing looks swirly to me....can you explain the difference, please? :) thank you

Really enjoyed this tutorial--Don't know if anyone asked this or not; but could you use (or re-use) old sheeting or mattress pads as your "middle" in this project??? I'm always thinking of "keeping warm".ljparton@bluefrog.com

Ashley well done I really love this work. I am in Nigeria I don't know if you could help me with the type and spec of sewing machines that will be best for me. I really need to practice some of the patterns you have been sharing on your blog. Thanks Bukky

Lovely tutorial. This is really beautiful. I'm in Nigeria and I don't know if you could recommend a sewing machine that will be best to practicalize the sewing patterns you have been sharing with us. Thanks

As someone who's been quilting a few years, and who's ahem "older" (scaring 50..lol) When I read your blog/ tutorial and viewed your pics, I was motivated to tell you what a fabulous job you did! I'm still trying to get the hang of free motion quilting! To see you just let your creativity flow and not look back was wonderful. I know I could benefit from not being so worried about perfect seam matches or perfect fmq...because your end result was perfect! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! You just made my morning. :) And I'm so glad you "get" what I'm trying to tell people. I'm not a master quilter (nor will I ever be) but I did it and everyone else can too! Don't let the fear of not being perfect hold you back from trying. It just might work out even though the seams might not match up. Thanks so much for letting me know (and 50 is the new 40, right?!)

I am simply amazed at how well you did at your first attempt at quilting. Your quilt turned out fabulous. I just kept reading and reading and looking at the photos and was stunned at how well you learned what you did about quilting on the Internet. I am a quilter now for about 8 years and it's not so easy, at least I didn't think so after being a garment sewer for years and years. Those scant 1/4 seams were horrible for me to conquer and using a rotary cutter was a horror ! I could never cut a straight line. One of the first things I learned to quilt was a string quilt and we used a fine mesh fabric that was like interfacing and we didn't tear it off. Congratulations on your wonderful quilt, I hope the bug has bitten you by now.

Thanks Hedy! Like my husband always says... you can learn ANYTHING on the internet. It really wasn't that bad, but you can see I didn't go for perfection. haha I can see how getting seams to match up on the money and making the entire thing perfectly square would be much harder. My plan was to inspire people to try and not to worry if it's a little wonky. Thanks so much for letting me know... lovely way to start the morning. :)